Phase two of StarCraft II beta imminent

By Oli Welsh Published 8 July, 2010

Co-op vs. AI, cross-game chat with WOW.

A new patch for the StarCraft II beta is available to download in Europe, suggesting that the second phase of the game's beta test is just around the corner.

The first phase of beta ended last month, with this second phase due to last "a couple of weeks" before the game launches at the end of this month.

We're patching our client right now, and the patch notes tell us to expect all Quick Match modes (1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 and Free For All); all AI difficulties; co-operative matchmaking versus AI; and cross-game social features between StarCraft II and World of Warcraft.

You can find the full patch notes for Patch 16 at the StarCraft II beta forum.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the first of three planned StarCraft II relases, is out on 27th July for PC and Mac. It's so close we can taste it.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • sneetch #1 2 years ago

    Well that's my evening taken care of.

  • ignatiusjreilly #2 2 years ago

    Can you play campaign co-op with this game?

    edit: I managed to find the Google website so I looked myself. Answer: no :(
    Edited by ignatiusjreilly at 08/07/10 @ 10:17

  • Eraysor #3 2 years ago

    The Americans are already playing it, but the EU servers are still down :(

  • geeza2020 #4 2 years ago

    Why would anyone want to talk to someone playing WoW when they are playing Starcraft?

    /confused

  • Gurgeh #5 2 years ago

    "Why would anyone want to talk to someone playing WoW when they are playing Starcraft? "

    That's part of Activision's Grand Plan and why WoW players now have Real IDs. They want your freinds to be able to see what games you are playing so they'll be encouraged to buy them to play with you.

    Just wait till your Real IDs get linked in with Facebook...

    "Blizzard and Facebook's friendly social networking deal launches with 'StarCraft II'

    [link url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2010/05/blizzard-and-facebooks-friendly-social-networking-deal-launches-with-starcraft-ii-/1
    ]http://content.usatoday.com/communities/...[/link]

    Edited by Gurgeh at 08/07/10 @ 10:51

  • cw- #6 2 years ago

    Why would anyone want to talk to someone playing WoW when they are playing Starcraft?

    It's no different to XBL/ Steam/ PSN(?)

  • sneetch #7 2 years ago

    @cw-

    Yep, I was recently talking to two friends of mine as one played Team Fortress 2, the other Hearts of Iron III and I played LEGO Harry Pott... Ninja Blood Stab Fury IV: The Deathination! If they're actual friends then you might want to talk with them about something other than what you're currently playing.

  • Eraysor #8 2 years ago

    I can see many benefits for Real ID, especially if I'm in SC2 and my friends are organising a raid in WoW, they'll be able to contact me where they might not have been able to before.

  • sneetch #9 2 years ago

    @Eraysor
    I can see many benefits for Real ID, especially if I'm in SC2 and my friends are organising a raid in WoW, they'll be able to contact me where they might not have been able to before.

    Definitely, however they could also do that without requiring people to use/expose their real name, just by using their account name. Mine is the same as my main character in WoW.

  • ignatiusjreilly #10 2 years ago

    I can see many benefits for Real ID

    Not to be picky, but that's a benefit of Battle.net rather than Real ID.

  • Oli Verified Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net #11 2 years ago

    @ignatiusjreilly

    I *think* cross-game chat will only be open between Real ID contacts.

  • sneetch #12 2 years ago

    @HappyHaunt
    Real ID has the benefit that you know the name of someone so can be sure it is them. And it's more social. If you don't want someone to know your name during gameplay then they are not actually a frie

    No you don't, you know they happen to have the same name, the only way you can be sure it's them is by asking them out of channel (as in through an email address or voice/sms message). Even in the Beta I got multiple hits when searching for some of my friends, when the game goes live I expect more.

    I think the point is being lost amidst the nerd rage.

    Ah yes, dismissing other peoples opinions and concerns as "nerd rage" validates to your own position.

    You'll only reveal your real name if you post on the forums, which are different to the current forums as they will be behind battle.net. Not on battle.net with a registered game? Then you cannot access those forums and all search engines will do is pull up the main page ala facebook (apart from where people are set to public).

    Are you sure about that? I haven't seen anything to indicate that these forums will be hidden from the public, the current ones aren't.

    Anyway, none of the Real ID features they list really require you to expose your real life name, your account name should do (it's good enough for Steam and other similar services) if you know that a real life friend plays a particular character on a particular realm or goes by a particular name in Starcraft II then you could just as easily locate them on this service using that information and request to add them as a friend (with less margin for error in fact, there'll be more than one John Smith in the service but only one Elfhuntar on Doomhammer) and if you don't know the name of your real life friend's characters or account name then they're not actually a friend.
    Edited by sneetch at 08/07/10 @ 12:34

  • ignatiusjreilly #13 2 years ago

    @Oli

    But that's just a policy decision, there's no reason why it has to be.

  • CaptainTrips #14 2 years ago

    But that's just a policy decision, there's no reason why it has to be.

    of course there are reasons - would you want any douche who you just ganked or insulted adding your WoW name and being able to give you shit while you are on another realm or game? With Real ID you have to know someone's Email address to add and contact them cross-game - a change which I welcome.

  • ignatiusjreilly #15 2 years ago

    @Captaintrips

    Surely you'd have to accept a friend request first? I'd never expect anyone to be able to just add you and send you messages, even if they did know your email address.

  • sneetch #16 2 years ago

    @CaptainTrips
    But that's just a policy decision, there's no reason why it has to be.

    of course there are reasons - would you want any douche who you just ganked or insulted adding your WoW name and being able to give you shit while you are on another realm or game? With Real ID you have to know someone's Email address to add and contact them cross-game - a change which I welcome.

    I may be wrong but I believe that ignatius's problem is with the privacy concerns with giving your real name.

    There is absolutely no reason why they couldn't implement the Real ID system as is apart from using your account name instead of your real name. Then even knowing your account name if someone isn't on your Real ID friends list then they can't call you or know what characters you have or what game you're playing then they can't grief you any more readily than they can now.

  • Gurgeh #17 2 years ago

    There may be trouble ahead (from EJ forums)

    "Apparently, at the moment the employees are largely as pissed as the players, and she stated that despite attempts to keep it hushed, it has become known that the big creative players within Blizzard are pretty much as unhappy about this as we are. Everybody has been told they are not free to comment on this situation outside of specially prepared statements.

    It's still going ahead, however (and here's where in-house rumours and hearsay really start coming into play): from what they've picked up, the Blizzard leads have been told in no uncertain terms that the non-gameplay-related direction of the game is working to a different blueprint now. GC and company are free to play with shiny new talent trees all they like, for example, but for the first time the decisions regarding Battle.net implementation, Real ID, and plans for the general acquisition of new players for the business are no longer in Blizzard's own hands, and that's not going down too well."

  • ignatiusjreilly #18 2 years ago

    I really, really hope that's not true.

    It's what we've all been dreading ever since Blizzard merged with Activision.